Early Intervention

About the Program

The Early Intervention Program at Family and Community Services has been in existence since 1998. The mission of Early Intervention is to assure that families who have children ages birth to three, with certain diagnosed disabilities, developmental delays or substantial risk of significant delays receive resources and support that assist them in maximizing their child's development while respecting the diversity of families and communities. Disabilities may include: speech delays, autism, Down Syndrome or motor delays. A family centered approach drives the interaction with families.

What the Program Offers

The program provides social work services to families enrolled in the Early Intervention Program:

• Social work services include making home visits to evaluate a child’s living conditions and patterns of parent-child interaction; preparing a social/emotional developmental assessment of the child within the family context; providing individual and family-group counseling with parents and other family members, and appropriate social skill building activities with the child and parents; working with those problems in a child and family’s living situation (home, community, and any center where Early Intervention services are provided) that affect the child’s maximum utilization of Early Intervention services.

Eligibility criteria

Eligibility is initially determined through a referral to the Monroe County Early Intervention Program:

• The family must live in Monroe County and have a child between 0-3 years old with a developmental disability, as defined by the Monroe County Department of Health.
• The child must have a 33% delay (2 or >2 standard deviation) in one area of development or 25% delay (1.5 or >1.5 standard deviation) in two areas of development. These areas of development are: social-emotional, cognitive, communication, physical and adaptive.
• There are also some diagnoses that automatically make a child eligible for services. The most common diagnoses are extreme prematurity, Down Syndrome or other chromosomal abnormalities, central nervous system disorders such as Cerebral Palsy, spina bifida, micro/macrocephaly, fetal alcohol syndrome and hearing and visual impairments.

Intake Process

If you have concerns regarding your child's development, your first step is to call the Monroe County Department of Health at (585) 753-5437. The referral will be given to an initial service coordinator who will contact the family and set up a multi-disciplinary evaluation for the child. If a child is deemed eligible for services, the family may choose Family and Community Services to provide the in home Social Work support.

Program Cost

There is no cost for families with eligible children and families are not obligated to accept services.